Monday, July 16, 2007

Although we still are counting calories at home, I’ll take a break from the healthy/low fat posts and show you my dad’s favorite dessert: sweetened condensed milk custard.

Last Saturday we celebrated his 59th birthday and I cooked and baked for the party. Unfortunately, I didn’t get good photos of the food – not even of the cake. I think everything was OK, because there was nothing left. :)

This custard is extremely popular here in Brazil and loved by many of us. As fattening as it looks (and is), you should give it a try – I just ask you not to put the blame on me once you get hooked.

For the caramel: place the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until it begins to melt. Using a wooden spoon, stir it from time to time to make sure the melting process is even.When the sugar turns into a dark brown syrup, add the water – carefully not to get burned – and cook it until there are no more sugar lumps.Remove from heat and pour this caramel inside a 19cm ring pan, coating the sides well.Set aside.

For the custard: place all the ingredients in a blender and blend for a couple of minutes. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Cover it with foil.Place the prepared pan inside another pan and pour hot water until it comes half way the ring pan. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a skewer/small knife inserted comes out cleanLeave it to cool then refrigerate for at least 6 hours.Unmold and serve.

Powerfully rich and sweet. Patricia, is there any similarity between this and flan with doce de leite? Seems so, but the custard looks denser and the caramel looser. I'm not being picky, just fascinated. It's so lovely.

All these years I thought that flan was really, really hard to make and you make it look so simple here. I will have to try this only after I lose the pounds I gained when I quite smoking last year, but I will try to make this this year (Christmas)

Susan, flan is similar, but I believe the cooking method is different, and also the addition of sweetened condensed milk. Doce de leite is what you guys call dulce de leche - you'll get it by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk. I don't know if my answers are clear enough, let me know, please?xoxo

Toni, this is really delicious, my friend.

Anh, you should give this a try before starting your healthy diet! ;)My dad says tks!

Abby, this is so good, you should make it sometime.

Rose, thank you, sweetie. He says tks, too!

Cynthia, what a nice idea - spread the calories around! :D

Pablopabla, it's simple, all you need to do is plan in advance because it takes a long time to cook and chill.

Shayne, tks for stopping by! I'm glad to hear you quit smoking. I would also love to hear your opinion about it.

Condensed milk - yum - the preferred milk for flan here in the Philippines. I think some recipes for Leche Flan are made exclusively with condensed milk as the dairy product. DEADLY! But heavenly. Here, we steam instead of bake as it is more economical for most. Happy birthday to your dad!

Your Sweetened Condensed Milk Custard seems to be very much like something we call Brylé Pudding. I´m not sure whether the ingredients are the same or not, because I have never tried to make it myself, only seen chefs on TV make brylé pudding. At the end, they are melting and caramelizing the sugar on top with some propane blowtorch.

Patricia - This looks very similar to a very common dessert from Turkey called krem karamel. As you may guess it can be roughly translated as cream caramel, both of which are already in your ingredient list. I like the dessert but never prepare because it includes way too many eggs. Your recipe looks much better. But it is impossible to find condensed milk in Turkey and it takes ages to prepare it at home :(Lovely photo!

Hi Patricia, Thanks. The custared was easy to make and tasted great. However I have a doubt. I used a small container and didnt need so much sugar syrup ( caramel). I want to know why 100ml water needs to be added to the sugar syrup. I was able melt the sugar well but as soon as I added boiling water to it, it became lumpy. Can I make the caramel by just melting sugar and not adding water?

Cenk, thank you! I'm so glad you like it!Less eggs is definitely a plus. :)

Hi, Fiona, I'm glad to hear you made the recipe and liked it. Once you add the water (which has to be boiling) you have to wait a bit - all the lumps will melt.You can make the caramel without the water, but in the end, when you serve the dessert, there won't be much syrup.

Oh my, this is exactly the type of dessert I love and grew up with. I have fond memories of both my grandmothers making flan and it looks just like this. But this sounds extra rich and delicious - it's made with condensed milk! Must try. Thanks for sharing the recipe. :)

hi Pat, i typed "pudim de leite condensado" in google images (as well as "bolo de leite condensado") in order to find some good recipe (i have to use a can of leite c. asap)... ad of course i got here :D the kitchen wonderland :Di already had the idea of trying quesillo/pudim the leite c., which more or less are the same, but i was wondering if this dessert does have the consistency of a creme caramel/flan... does it?

Patricia, I'm from Venezuela. This dessert is very popular in my country, it's a tradition of all birthdays, it's called "quesillo".I make it with 4 eggs and 1+1/2 whole milk can.For the caramel I use less water, only 1 tablespoon.:)